only here, this is the only place you're going to hear this story, folks, have a great day. bill: see you later, "happening now" starts right now. jenna: we start this new hour with "happening now" with fox news alert. the recession is over, that is the word coming from a panel of academic economists that officially call the beginning and ends of recessions, the national bureau of economic research. just moment ago they say the recession started in december of 2007 and officially ended in june of last year, that is 18 months of a recession, that's the longest recession since world war ii let's take a look at market, not necessarily in effect on this. we have a lot of news playing into the markets today. you can see the dow is rallying up more than a hundred points. much more on this developing story straight ahead.

jon: and we hope your monday is off to a great start, i'm jon scott. jenna: hello, everybody i'm jenna lee. it's a jam-packed day for the president. he's gearing up for a town hall meeting where the economy will definitely be a hot topic especially after the news we just told you. he hits the campaign trail for joe sestak for fun fund raising. jon: terror or cease where the botched bombing suspect got on a plain for detroit. who was picked up this time and why are u.s. authorities worried. jenna: in the bottom box, where more democrats are breaking ranks with party leaders. all that and much more straight ahead. jon: a huge hurricane batters the tiny island of bermuda. igor hits with 95-mile an hour

winds. janice dean is watching this thing in the faction weather center. >> reporter: it could have been a lot worse. center of igor40 miles west of bermuda, last night around 11:00 local times. winds ar68 miles per hour gusting to 93. tropical force storm winds extending 350 miles from the center of the storm. this is a huge, huge event. hay had tropical-force storm winds for at least 24 hours on the island of bermuda. there doesn't seem to be a lot of damage or injuries reported, but igor did cause two deaths in the caribbean. there is the storm right now off screen because we don't have the satellite picture for you. you can see how huge this storm is, still a hurricane but expected to become extra tropical within the next day or so. so there is the path, racing across portions of canada.

a tropical storm watch for parts of new fond land -- newfoundland and makes a dash for greenland. look at this, our next tropical depression possibly today, if it gets named its name will be li lisa. i'm about done with the tropical season so far, jon back to you. jon: remember that one season when we used the entire alphabet. jenna: and we went to the greek alphabet, 2005, katrina's year. jenna: we will get a live report from our reporter in the thick of things. a training session for the national guard sparking a wildfire there. apparently a bullet from an artillery training lit this fire up, now it's threatening one hundred homes right near salt lake cities.

flames destroying four homes and forcing many residents to flee the area. january is -- janice the question for is will they be able to get this fire under control. >> reporter: it will be breeze see there. the southwest has been extraordinarily dry, not a lot of moisture making its way inland. what you see here on the satellite radar is not making it to ground. we do have breezey conditions and fire danger for herriman. critical fire danger is imminent. we'll be dealing with warm conditions, dry conditions and breezy conditions for the next several days, and unfortunately when you see the icon there of the showers, thunderstorms we could see dry lightning and that could spark more wildfires in the area. not good news for the saoegs of utah. back to you. jenna: for the region of utah, back to you. jenna: thank you j.d.

jon: in michigan prosecutors announcing murder and new assault charges against a serial stabbing suspect. he is accused of attacking 18 people and killing five of them e. was arrested at the atlanta air court last month as he was trying to get on board a plane to tel-aviv. jenna: few a excused spies are accused of selling secrets to venezuela. they used to work at the los alamos laboratory. the attorney general's office says he reached out to the man on the screen who he thought was with the venezuela and said he had information on how to make a nuclear bomb. that contact luckily turned out to be an fbi agent. jon: president obama is expected 0 take on wall street at a town hall meeting he'll b be holding.

the white house is planning to go after republicans by tying them to the tea party in a new ad blitz. this is being denied but at recent fundraisers joe biden started calling the gop the republican tea party. mike emanuel is live at the was. mike, set the page for this down hall meeting, first of all, what is the president planning. >> reporter: john, next hour president obama will be at the museum across down here in washington with a group of 200 for a televised town hall meeting. we understand they've recruited people from all different walks of life. they want to talk about, how do you build confidence in the economy, how do you get the small business owner to believe the recession truly is over, perhaps hire a couple more people, buy a big piece of equipment to get the economy up and running again. he will take questions from audience. it is televised, there will be no commercials and they want it to be an intimate setting where he can talk about the economy and try to convince the american

pickup that we are heading -- pickup, that we are heading in the right decks. jenna: now that jenna has told me the recession is officially over i think i'll run out and buy a house. >> reporter: that would help. jon: what is the issue "the new york times" has every ad blitz story. >> reporter: it's fascinating. late last night i was one of the reporters that got tpa row sus push back there the white house, this motorcycle peace saying the democrats were considering running an ad campaign saying the republican party had been taken over by the tea party. they said it was a hundred percent not true. i reached out to other democrats who say they are trying to sort it all out. bottom line, while we expect the language will be heated over the next six we can as we head towards midterm elections. the white house and other prominent democrats are saying they are not considering the ad campaign to label the republican part see as being taken over by

the tea party, john. jon: mike emanuel at the white house for us. jenna: a tere rer arrest at amsterdam airport. this is the same airport where umar farouk abdulmutallab boarded a plane for detroit on christmas. the suspect is linked to somalia's most dangerous terror group al-shabab. >> reporter: this tip came from british authorities and the man is being questioned as an alleged terrorist suspect after his arrest at an airport in amsterdam over the weekend. they did not provide details except to say the man is british and of somali dekrefpblt he was travelling from liverpool to am more dam -- am der stapl --

amsterdam, then on. jenna: is there any connection. >> reporter: they are reporting that the suspect has alleged ties to this group called al-shabab, it's an al-qaida affiliate. it's based in somalia but the group has been active recruiting not only from great britain but also from the united states. the spokesman is an american citizen. a federal indictment was unveiled against him. black sabbath was not behind the underwear bomb err -- bomber, that was another group in the arabian peninsula. jenna: what's the significance of the guy's tripe to uganda? >> reporter: one of the main questions right now for the u.s. intelligence community is whether this al-qaida affiliate in so mallouisiana will remain a

regional group or go global. earlier this year in july there was a twupb suicide bombing in the capitol of uganda which was timed to so even side with the world cup. more than 70 people were killed in that attack. a former u.s. official told me within the last week that there is real question as to whether this incident in uganda was the tipping point or the first red flag that al-shabab was going to go global and not remain a regional consideration within east africa. jenna: thank you very much for your perspective this morning. catherine herridge there d.c. jon: more and more democrats are breaking ranks with party leaders, like nancy pelosi. is when something that they are hearing there the -- from the voters back home? during the break you can check out our great political blog, a front row seat to politics, log

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jon: nancy pelosi's announced plans to extend the bush tax cuts only to the middle class seems to be losing steam. more democrats are returning to capitol hill from their district and calling for the speaker to include even the richest americans, otherwise they are afraid voters will blame them for increasing taxes when voters go to the polls in november. let's talk about it with a. b. stoddard associate editor of "the hill." it sounds like the speaker has been getting an ear full not only from constituents but also from her memory, right. >> reporter: right at this point there are 31 house democrats on record on a petition asking their leadership to not only extend the tax cuts to the

middle class but to the top two pwrobgts this well. this obviously is in pop situation to press' plan to only extend tax relief to those making 250,000 and less. they are very tphofs, these are democrats in tight races. i imagine that number will grow, in the days and weeks there will be more than 31. that is enough to mutt the math at risk. i don't think it looks at this point like they have votes. to sunset tax relief for the top two brackets richest americans either on the house side or the senate side. jon: the speaker and the president have been very vocal saying the tax cuts are going to increase for the top two pwrobgts -- brackets. they say no way are we going to extend for the richest americans. is that just bluster? >> reporter: that's been their plan all along. president obama campaigned on that, he stuck to it all along. the leadership is behind him. as you see the members who are fighting for their political

lives in an extremely toxic political environment are looking at their campaign prospects in the weeks to come that they want to put it vote off or a one to two year extension to the top two brackets. look, you've heard the president and the speaker as you've said stay behind this message, they keep reiterating it, the republicans are holding the middle class hostage. they have more than 6 or 7 national polls showing the public is on their side. they have independent, swing voters who believe that they should only extend those cuts to the middle class, but those vulnerable democrats are getting very nervous and they could per persuade their leadership to suspend them. jon: nancy pelosi seems to be on shakey ground.

there is one democrat calling for her resignation. others are luke warm about reelecting her as speaker even if they retain control of the house. >> reporter: if you look at the amount of ads using pelosi saying, i stood up to her, i stood up to the president she is obviously very ununpopular in moderate and swing district. thinks the battleground where it will be made or broke than for democrats this fall. she's encouraged members to run against her, use her as a boogie man, do whatever they want, say whatever they want. behind closed doors she is working very hard to reelect them. if they retain their jobs she remains speaker. she is racing man for them. she is working very hard that they come back in november. if they do, the spin will be that they defied expectations and i really believe at that

point she has secured her position as speaker. many members who would vote against her will have lost but if they hold the house there are many scenarios by which she could stay on as speaker. there is an inside game and outside game. jon: a. b. stoddard thank you. jenna: amateur video just coming into our newsroom, a horrifying scene, there is a shooting, fire, and a murder, multiple murders. that story coming up next. as a battle for kandahar reaches a critical point the u.s. is taking on new security duties in afghanistan. starting today we're going to tell you why american troops are moving into one of the deadliest areas of that country.

jon: "happening now" very dramatic video coming across our international desk. in the top box a freight train on the wrong tracks slams into a passenger train in india. that head on collision killing dozens. in the middle box another disaster unfold tph-g a different part of india where monsoon rains and killer landslides swept over the northern part of the country. the bottom box, traffic as a standstill? athens greece as hundreds of truckers stage a protest against the country's new labor rules. jenna: also "happening now" u.s. troops taking over security for one of afghanistan's deadliest regions. the british military are handing over a portion of the hell man -- helman province, this as combat intensifies in the battle to retake kandahar from the taliban. this is the taliban stronghold. tony shaffer is with the center for advanced defense study and the author of operation dark

heart. how effect do you do you think our strategy in this area is? >> i think it's largely becoming apparent that it's not very effective. one of the things that continues to be ignored is the fact that the taliban have been able to establish a large shadow government essential lie all for one province i believe is established. when we talk about elections, we talk about combat operations i've heard very little about how we are dealing with this shadow entity which now has had huge effects in push away the people from the central government. and this is where we have to be very careful with how we embrace president karzai especially when there are wide reports in this election, the fourth since the country was essentially taken over by president karzai and the folks we helped back in 2000. -- 2001. we are talking a very line line here. i agree with colin powell, he said he felt it was not apparent

they were winning right now. jenna: you're saying it's not an effective strategy. he says we're not winning, to read between the lines there are we losing the war in afghanistan? everyone. >> we will never achieve in my professional view a military victory akin to the one in world war ii. we must speak a political solution. jenna: do we need the same type of victory that we achieved in world war ii. >> no i think we will put defeat from the jaws of victory. there has been no new attacks launched from afghanistan . i'm not saying we should pull out. we should always have a presence there but the current way we are doing there, we are inserting ourselves in tribal rivalries which we should not be doing. our interests are to make sure there are no new attacks perpetrated from this area of the world and too help support the pakistanis in that they have

nuclear weapons. we have to be a lot more concerned about their stability. this is where we have to take a very close look at what our objectives are for the region. jenna: let me get your final thoughts on this. you were in afghanistan in a combat role in 2003, 2004 you were aeu worded the bronze star for your work there. how do things get so out of hand? how did we move into the wrong direction here? what did we know back in 2000, 2002 -- 2001, 2002 that we don't know now. >> i think one of the things that helped us within was dealing with the local war lords. they've been trying to talk to the tribal he will ders, the shira, who really run the country, the people in all the villages. the problem is we had back then the idea of working with these folks. we were there for a vendetta, their culture tupbdzs vendetta, we were there because we were harmed. we are walking away from that and support a central government

that many people don't like because it seems corrupt. we are not being seen in the same light as we were in 2002, 2003, 2004. we need to look at how we can re-establish the same techniques we used during the two, 2003 timeframe to maintain order there. it's really working with the afghans, not us doing it ourselves. jenna: maybe it's a good move that we are taking back some of the controls from the coalition forces. thank you so much it's always a pleasure. jenna: thank you. jon: a custody battle may have triggered a horrifying and deadly calm page in germany. police say a woman shot and killed her e husband and young son then set fire to her apartment. officers said she ran outside and shot two bystanders before running into a nearby hospital and murdering a nurse. police officers killed her shortly after. german authorities are not releasing the woman's name but saying she is a 41-year-old lawyer. jenna: it's fox news alert straight from vague tkpwa* gas,

there is the face of a guilty party. paris hilton there pleading guilty to some misdemeanor charges, two of them in fact for drug possession, and also obstructing an officer last month when she was found to have drugs on her in vegas. she made a plea deal. she gets probation, avoids a felony charge and gives us yet another look at her in court and a new mugshot. we've had quite a few from there. jon: somebody did a nice make up job on that guilty face. jenna: you're going to be on camera you know that more than anyone, jon you've got to be made up. jon: hurricane igor pounds the island of bermuda, rick leventhal is hung erred down there now. >> reporter: the sun is shining again which took a pounding from igor overnight as you mentioned. widespread power outages, some property damage. we'll have the latest from bermuda coming right up. jon: also drug violence getting so bad across our southern border a local newspaper is

waiving the white flag. what it is now offering to do for the drug cartels. [ technician ] are you busy? management just sent over these new technical manuals. they need you to translate them into portuguese. by tomorrow.

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jon: fox news weather alert. hurricane igor lashess bermuda over need with my winds and fierce waves. many are without power feeling the affects of the storm. rick leventhal is streaming live from hamilton, bermuda.

what kind of weather are you seeing there, rick. >> reporter: we are seeing widespread minor damage, nothing too major. no deaths or injuries to report. power is out over much of the island. although the power company is making some progress. as we drove around this morning we saw a lot of trees down, some power lines down, 28,000 of the 35,000 customers here were in the dark. that's roughly 80% of the island. about 7,000 of those customers have got even the lights back on since this morning. we did see one boat that did make it through the storm. a lot of trees down, branches down, things certainly could have been a lot worse, jon. jon: we know bermuda is known for pink-stand beaches. how did they do. >> reporter: they lost a lot of the pink sand in the storm. unfortunately a lot of it it was chewed away earlier in the week.

we shot some, why don't you take a look. the biggest problem appeared to be erosion, the roots of this palm tree exposed. you can see here at elbow beach where the sand used to reach up to the tile of this beach-front restaurant, now they've lost about 2, 3, feet of it. the locals tell us that typically the ocean will bring some of that sand back, but this is more than they are used to losing. you can see a similar erosion situation at the reefs here right on the southern coast of bermuda. they also lost much of their beach, exposing boulders that were not visible before the storm hit. this thing started out as a category 4. for it would be a one and do this type of damage make a lot of people relieved that it wasn't stronger when it hit last night. jon: i bet. thanks, rick. jenna: from bermuda to just across the border from el paso

texas, mexican's drug war claims another victim. a photographer with el deario. this is the second time in two years they've killed a journalist. the paper is asking drug lords what to tub so they can keep their employees safe. william la jeunesse is live in los angeles with this story. >> reporter: that total now is 22 mexican journal lises murdered, dozens gone missing, others attacked and kidnapped. they are throwing in the towel, they will not cover mexican's drug war after two employees were gunned down as they went to lunch. one died, one survived. it is called narco censorship. the juarez daily said yesterday, the cartels own juarez, not the cops, the federal troops or the mexican government. secondly it asked the cartels

what they want so the paper can cover the news without its staff being shot. here is part of that editorial, quote, we ask you to explain what you want from us, what we should try to public or not tpub so we know what to expect. this is, as you mentioned the second el diario reporter killed two years ago they shot a reporter as he took his daughter to school. why. they cover crime and corruption, that means naming names, what cartel boss is under investigation. the cartels don't like that, killing a reporter or editor is the best way, jenna to shut the paper up. 90% of the crimes go unprosecuted. the mexican media has already stopped kofrlg the -- ko*frg the drug war in many cities. in april a drug cartel attacked a military base with explosives and assault rifles, it was not even reported in the mexican press. they've asked the president for protection, as you know, jenna

right now there is chaos down there, they are having trouble keeping the country together. for now the cartels have won, silence is survival for reporters and in juarez it is something you will not read about, back to you. jenna: you want to get the story you want to protect your people but fear is a very powerful thing, william. thank you very much, william la jeunesse for us in los angeles jon: some very popular supplements that many of you may use to deal with joint man might have absolutely no affect whatsoever. researchers looking at ten studies involving glue could he satisfactory mean -- glousiamine says is the not much better than taking placebos. i took this stuff, it didn't seem to work for me.

>> reporter: for starters, 20 million people or more are suffering from osteoarthritis. you've got to do something. the prescribed tpaoeplt that i can offer, things like nonsteroidals, they have more side effects. i like looking at the ones that come from the shellfish and one that comes from shark cart hrapbl, they are not regulated by the fda. but study after study seems to show they don't do much. for a small percentage of people if they are working for you why not. they don't seem to prevent the progression of the disease. jon: the indication from the sudden deis they don't work any better than the placebo. >> reporter: the gate trial also showed the same thing except in very severe case. whether it's a placebo or not i

don't have a problem with trying it. i'm a little nervous that the fda doesn't regulate it. even placebo if you're using it instead of something that wears down your stomach i'm fine. i don't think the stuff works that well. there is a big market out there selling this sufficient, making millions of dollars it doesn't work very well. jon: just the expense of it. i bought a big bottle, it was 120 bucks or something like that. >> reporter: that's the problem with supplements in general, they are not regulated. people say, oh, that sounds great we heard that that worked on somebodies dog. it's a big friend, this is going to put a little bit of a kabosh on it jon. it's over used. jon: you're saying the same thing that my doctor said to me. i said should i take this stuff? he said you can try it. if it seems to be helping fine, it can't do you any harm. >> reporter: it is not helping neighbor knees to heal when the

joints wear out they wear out. it's made out of cartilage it ain't giving you any cartilage is the thing you have to remember. jon: it may be going in your stomach and not doing anything more. >> reporter: most of the time that is true. in a small percentage of case it may make you feel aeult bit better. i'm okay with it but it's not a replacement for real treatment. jon: if you take glucosamine and condroitan, you heard what the doctor said. jon: i said why spend all that money on something that doesn't work when i can spend it on beer? >> reporter: i don't think beer is going to work either, jon. jenna: the longest recession since world war ii now is over. really? does it feel that way to you? we'll break down this story and tell you what the declaration means. a nation-wide manhunt for this guy accused of in the murder of

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jenna: president obama heading to philadelphia to campaign for joe sestak. does this mark a turn in the strained relationship between sestak and the white house and what does it mean for the elections coming up. a terror threat overseas, why guards are stationed at this mosque, we'll bring you there. paris heuld ton pleaded guilty today to -- hilton pleaded guilty to drug charges. a live report coming up. jon: a horrible crime hits too close to home for a north carolina police chief after officers found the body of his daughter over the weekend. >> she was the perfect daughter, and i miss her, and i need justice for her, and i need folks to be looking for this guy. jon: well this guy is a convicted sex offender with a long rap sheet and a nation-wide manhunt is underway right now.

jonathan serrie is following it from atlanta. any sign of the woman's killer, jonathan. >> reporter: no sign of the suspect since late last week. police are asking the public for their help in finding 34-year-old michael neal harvey a registered sex offender who actually served some time in new york for a rape conviction before he moved to charlotte. they believe he may be driving a stolen 1996 chevy blazer with north carolina license plate zxe1756. authorities are asking anyone with information to so many forward and call crime stoppers. that number is (704)334-1600 jon. jon: what's the evidence? i mean what led authorities to him? >> reporter: well the victim, valerie hamilton was last seen early wednesday morning leaving a bar with a man. the security camera at the bar shows her leaving with a man matching michael neal harvey's

describes. based on harvey's long rap shoet and sex offender status police were suspicious from the get go. they searched his charlotte area home, they searched an economy motel where witnesses believed that he had stayed last week until checking out on friday. and it was a day later on saturday that that he found the young woman's body in a selfstorage unit in charlotte, jon. jon: it's such a sad story. tell us a little bit more about this young lady and her family. >> reporter: eye all accounts she was a very outgoing friendly loved woman who loved kids. she worked at a place that gave swimming lessons to very young children. she was also very close to her family by all accounts. she apparently talked to her father by phone at least once a day, and now they are dad, the police chief has the heartbreaking task of seeking answers in a murder case that obviously hits very close to home. he's been going on national

television, just asking for any information from police around the country, as well as the general public, any information leading to an arrest in his daughter's murder, jon. jon: jonathan serrie, thanks very much. just as you were speaking, jonathan it is breaking on our fox urgent wire that that suspect has been arrested. it has not been confirmed yet but there is a report out of niagara falls, new york that the suspect in the murder case jonathan was just telling you about has been arrested. we'll work on that. there is his picture. we are working on confirming that. there is a initial report out of niagara falls to that february. jonathan, thank you. jenna: faction news alert new, it may come as a surprise to millions of unemployed americans but the national bureau of economic research now says the recession is over. it ended june of last year. the downturn though lasted 18 months making it the longest recession since world war ii.

ashley webster joins us now to talk through some of these declarations. first of thul this bureau of economists who are they. >> reporter: it's panel of economists whose job it is to track and date when recessions again and end. many would say they are way off base here. 14 million americans still out of of work, that's almost one in five. they say the recession ended in june of last year based on gross depress particular product, the unemployment rate which is high and personal income. enough of the data has been positive enough to be out officially over a recession. jenna: what does it mean going forward for any initiatives out there, any stimulus money. >> reporter: absolutely nothing. it would set us up for a double dip recession if we again fall back into the economic data levels which would indicate employment being one of them. i think what it really points to is that the recovery may be underway but peep aren't being employed -- people aren't being employed, which again is not

great for the economy. jenna: these economists have been notorious about being a little late to the party when it comes to recessions, even double-dip recessions. >> reporter: it took them two years to tell us when the recession began and it's taken us this long, 14 months to tell us when it evened. they are very careful one would say and others would say, it's hard to believe. jenna: there it is, though today they made that declaration. >> reporter: no balloons and champagne i don't think. jenna: the wrong type of celebrating. >> reporter: exactly. jenna: ashley webster thank you so much. appreciate it. jon over to you. jon: a wildfire in utah is threatening dozens of homes right now. crews are working to stop the flames which are moving very quickly and some fierce winds as you can see there. will mother nature help them out? harris is working a story from our breaking news decks. a bank robbery. >> reporter: a camera is one you're looking live now at one

socket -- woonsocket. are they after a suspect? may a suspect have gone into this apartment i do not know. we'll tkpw-ts more information and i'll give it to you on the other side of this commercial break. stay with us. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. you must really care about him. what? you gave him fiber. this tastes way too good to be fiber. they're delicious crunchy clusters with sweet honey and half a day's worth of fiber. you care about my fiber? not really. [ male announcer ] fiber one.

jenna: breaking news out of rhode island a possible shooting at a bank there. harris has been working on details from the breaking news desk. what do we know. >> reporter: we are trying to figure what is the connection between a bank, a citizen's bank, and woonsocket, and an apartment building and many, many police officers, including police officers in swat gear have showed up and surrounded. there seems to be quite a bit of focus on this apartment building in woonsocket. i have not been able to confirm

actual gunshots fired. as we get more pictures from this area of rhode island i'll show you what we are watching via satellite in the newsroom as we gather more information. a possible shooting at a citizen's bank in woonsocket. here we are, brand-new pictures coming into fox news channel. here is the apartment bumming i was just telling you about. in the front yard you'll begin to see them, the swat swat memb, we've been watching all of the squad cars move in, and a lot of activity in and out of this one apartment. no sign of anybody necessarily that they've arrested, but they've been taking to a lot of neighbors and focusing in on this one particular apartment building. you're looking at woonsocket rhode island adjacent to a citizen's bank with reports of a

shooting, we'll get you the latest as it comes in. jenna: live pictures coming from rhode island. a potential update on other breaking news. jon: a local television station in charlotte, north carolina, are reporting that michael harvey has been arrested this report goes in niagara falls, new york. harvey has family there, has a lot of ties to that area. he is a convicted sex offender who was the number one suspect in the murder of 23-year-old valerie hamilton. she is the daughter of the local police chief, merryl hamilton who has been on national television pleading for information that would help find the suspect in the murder of his daughter. she disappeared about five days ago, was last seen at the thomas street tavern, a popular watering hole in the charlotte area, leaving with a guy who looked very much like michael

harvey. they are body was found this past friday night in a storage locker in charlotte in the southeast quadrant of that city. michael harvey disappeared. he'd been on the run and now again the report is that he was arrested this morning in niagara falls, new york where he has calmly. no further details available. we'll get confirmation on all of this and bring it to you as soon as we do. jenna: a new york imam overcoming several legal hurdles trying to build a controversial mosque near ground zero. now he faces a brand-new obstacle, how construction workers are attempting to stop the project in its trafpblgts also a bizarre injury at a cubs games last night really is putting maple baseball bats under scrutiny. why these bats can be so dangerous. we have that story coming up. when you have osteoporosis, like me,

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jon: brand new information coming your way in our second hour, i'm jon scott. jen hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee. president obama holding a town meeting. jon: just a few blocks from the white house, six weeks before the midterm elections the president tries to stave off a potential republican blowout in november. jenna: after that town hall meeting, the president is again hitting the campaign trail. he's flying off to pennsylvania to raise money for the democratic party and for congressman joe sestak who's running for the senate there. earlier this year sestak defeated senator arlen specter. carl cameron is live with the story, so, carl, the republican national committee is joking

that this is somehow awkward, but is it? is it strange to have these guys in the same room again? >> reporter: well, it is awkward in the sense that the president had been actively campaigning against joe sestak back before may 18th of this year. at that point joe sestak -- live tv, jenna, sorry. downtown philly, sometimes the fire department has to protect the masses. at that time joe sestak did the unthinkable, he defeated the incumbent democratic senator for re-election, arlen specter, who hadn't been a democrat very long. folks will remember he'd been a lifelong republican and quit the party in order to avoid a primary against none other than pat toomey. pat toomey is the republican nominee, and he is currently leading joe sestak in the polls. so awkward, indeed, and republicans and partisans are delighted to point it out because the president finds himself campaigning for someone whom he did not want to win the nomination and, frankly, pennsylvania is an open question as to whether or not the

president can help joe sestak all that much in the first place. the keystone state's lost about 87,000 jobs since the stimulus passed, unemployment is north of 9% here, it went up between july and august, and there is some concern that the president's persona politically can be a problem for democrats. so joe sestak, nonetheless, will take the presence of the commander in chief today for the fund raising and for the buzz because he needs all the help he can get trailing as he does for the senate seat. critical, because it's one of the ten the republicans would love in the fall. jenna: it'd be hard to say no to the president, i guess, carl. thank you so much. carl cameron for us watching anything awkward and all the ongoings in philadelphia and pennsylvania. jon: right now all of the politicians are gauging a group that could tip the scales in november, the independent vote. an open congressional seat once held by a pro-war democrat in washington state could give us an idea as to which way voters not aligned with either major

party are leaning. this 43 days before the midterms. dan springer has that live from seattle. i guess independents can decide the outcome in lots of close races, dan. is that also true in this race you're looking at? >> absolutely, jon, and that's why people in the other washington are watching the race very closely because it's kind of similar to a lot of swing districts around the country. you've got 30% democrat, 30% republican and a huge chunk, 40%, independents. and the way those independents break will decide which candidate wins this race, and that's probably also true of which party will end up in control of congress. you've got the democrat denny heck against herrera. this truly is a swing district, but the unemployment rate is 13.3%, so this race and these voters are focused squarely on the economy. >> it's not working, and when

you're in a hole, the first thing you should do is stop digging. and i believe it's the small business owner and the entrepreneur, those are the ones that are going to lead us out of this recession. so what the federal government should be doing right now is signaling, hey, we're not going to raise taxes. >> reporter: and i know that pundits like to talk about specific races, and this is the race to tch, but actually they are saying that the washington third is one race to watch very closely, and right now herera has a 13% lead. jon: well, clearly, she's trying to make this a referendum on the president and spending. you heard that in that sound clip from her there. what's the response from her opponent? >> reporter: well, not only on spending, she's making this a referendum on the entire democratic party. in fact, some of her supporters have put out campaign ads linking him squarely to nancy pelosi and the democratic leadership and president obama. but denny heck has got the greatest campaign slogan ever, it's called give congress heck. so he's actually trying to run

as the outsider, somebody who is running against the democratic leadership. but, you know, in the end on that ballot it's going to have the d next to his name. you know, he's saying he's not in lockstep with the democratic leaders and the speaker, nancy pelosi. but here's what he had to say. >> i'm not running in san francisco, and if my opponent wants to run against nancy pelosi, it's like, what, 700 miles to the south. feel welcome. >> reporter: so you can see the strategy, jon. it's about the democratic candidate running kind of away from his party and saying that he's the independent-minded guy trying to get the middle and trying to localize this race. and you've got the republicans also trying to localize and talking about spending and reining in control of spending in congress but also trying to make it a national referendum and saying a vote for me, the republican, is a vote for a change in direction, and that's happening in races, a lot of these swing district races across the country. jon: that's going to be an interesting one to watch. dan springer, thanks. jenna: now for a look at the big picture as we get close to

election day, joining us is bret baier with some perspective on the week ahead. the president right now talking about the economy yet again. it's a big issue, it's a controversial one, and we only have a few weeks until election day. so what does the president need or hope to accomplish by talking more about the economy? >> reporter: well, he hopes to paint a picture that the obama administration, in his words, has the economy on the right track and that it's heading in the right direction and that while it's been slower as he says to get on the right track, to get out of this recession he says this is the right prescription going forward. of course that's being pushed back significantly by republican candidates all over the country and by the tea party. and the tea party in general the movement as you know is not just republican, it's independent and democrat, and it's tapped into this anger, really, about the situation in washington. kind of a pox on both your

houses. you're not getting it done for the american people is really the message. and it's interesting to see "the new york times" with this story that the obama administration is weighing or considering an effort to go after the tea party directly to try to help democrats. some here in the beltway say it may actually backfire. jenna: bret, what are you hearing about that report? "the new york times" comes out with a report says the white house is going to go directly after the tea party. the white house comes out and says the report by "the new york times" is 100% incorrect, they're doing nothing of the sort. "the new york times" comes out again and says, yes, this report is accurate. what are you hearing down there? is the white house pushing this or not? >> reporter: you're right, the times is sticking by it. there is a back and forth inside the white house political machine and also top democrats of about whether to go after and try to tie the gop directly with the tea party and try to paint it all as extremist.

you've heard a little bit from democratic national committee chairman tim kaine along those license, but it is a bit dangerous in that if you remember back to the health care town halls when house speaker nancy pelosi said with a broad brush that they're all astroturf, they're all ginned up town halls, well, that really set some people off and made people angry. this weekend you saw former president bill clinton saying he totally understands the tea party outrage. so he's taken a different tact. we'll see if the white house moves forward, and the president mentions anything about the tea party today in this town hall. jenna: well, today he's also going to be traveling to pennsylvania to work a little bit with the democratic party overall, but also joe sestak as carl was just telling us. why is this so important? we've seen the vice president help joe sestak, the former president, bill clinton, there as well. for those of us outside of pennsylvania, why so much attention on this race?

>> reporter: well, joe sestak is trailing in the latest polls against republican pat toomey there significantly depending on the poll that you're looking at, and this is a very clear choice when it comes to pennsylvania. the two candidates running very different campaigns. they're not similar, they are on two sides of the spectrum. and i think the president campaigning for joe sestak indicates that sestak believes that he needs the heft of the obama administration despite the president's approval ratings even in a place like pennsylvania. jenna: bret, always good to see you early. we get a preview, and we appreciate it. bret baier, again, "special report" 6 p.m. eastern time this evening. jon: a fox news alert, and it could be a nightmare for commuters including myself in new york city. take a look at this, harris is on it. harris? >> reporter: yeah, a nightmare, indeed, and very

dangerous situation, jon. you see the black smoke burning there. this is east harlem, and i am coming up to speed on just how important this particular bridge is to the manhattan area. it is the 138th street bridge, underneath it is on fire. this affects four metro north tracks along the train line, it affects a whole lot of people here, and we are hours away from rush hour, and it's already a nightmare, jon, as you put it. here's part of the problem. just about all traffic coming out of the north from manhattan has to go across this bridge at some point or intersect with many of its intersections. and you can see in full flame at the bottom. we're trying to learn what has caused this. this is a wooden train trestle underneath the metro north tracks over the harlem river affecting a lot of people right now. as we find out more about what caused this and if anybody's been hurt in all this, but it's just burning out of control on top of the harlem river right

now underneath the 13 lth strait -- 138th street bridge where a whole lot of roads meet in northern manhattan/east harlem. right now these live pictures coming to you from just north, the northern end of manhattan. as we learn more, we'll bring you more information. hopefully nobody hurt in all of this, but we don't see anybody working on this at this point. stay with us on this one, jon, we've got a lot of phone calls to make. jon: just so our viewers know, harris, the harlem river connects the east river with the hudson river. it's that little finger of a river on the north end of manhattan, and that bridge provides transportation for the metro knot trains that pull out of grand central and head towards connecticut and westchester county. so tens of thousands of commuters if that bridge winds up out of service as a result of this fire, tens of thousands of commuters could have a real problem getting home today after their workday in manhattan. it's certainly going to be worth

watching and, of course, on the other side the long island railroad has had its own fire problems of late. >> reporter: yep. jon: commuters have had problems getting home because of cable fires and storms that knocked trees down onto some of the lines. so it's been a mess for railroad commuters in and out of manhattan for the last week or two, and this is not going to make things any better. >> reporter: yeah. you bring up a good point with that down burst tornado, whatever anybody had wanted to call it. it was a big mess on just the other side of manhattan. again, black smoke burning, and that's an indication that it is completely out of control at this point. i'm making phone calls as we speak. hopefully, after the break we'll have more information. jon: all right, harris. thanks. jenna: well, a boat on the verge of sinking on a river, and fire firefighters are struggling to save the man on board. we're going to show you the dramatic ending just ahead. also, a wildfire rages in the west. a wall of flames near salt lake

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jon: take a look at this, this is a fire burning right now on some kind of a wooden structure. i've seen the thing millions of times. it's burning under that metal bridge there at 138th street where the metro north train lines cross the harlem river bound for places like white plains, the city of white plains, connecticut, any stop in connecticut, any stop in westchester and on up north. metro north trains rolling out of manhattan have to use that bridge, and that bridge is going to be out of service for at least the near future while they investigate how much damage this

fire may have done to the bridge. maybe nothing, but they're going to have to look at it. harris, what do you know? >> reporter: yeah. a huge development right now, jon. you and i were watching it during the commercial break, a boat has arrived. a fire department vessel has arrived, and they are shooting what we believe is recycled river water onto this thing, and now you see a second boat joining -- these are live pictures, live pictures. a second boat joining the fire fight here. you know, we had questioned before the commercial break how in the world are they going to get to this thing burning out of control, you mentioned how many people it's affecting, and you don't want it to spread from there. that wood, obviously, attaches to land at some point. just moments ago this video coming in of the first boat, fire department vessel to pull up and shoot recycled -- what we believe is recycled river water onto this wooden toss l that's burning out of control.

they're starting to get some of those flames out, but whatever it is that you see on your commute every day looking out the window as you come into manhattan is, for sure, at least a block long and very much on fire. jon: let's check in with thomas von esse formerly with the new york city fire department. commissioner von e,sse, what is it that's burning, do we know? >> well, you can see it's a large wooden superstructure underneath the bridge. i think you're going to find that, you know, you're going to get lucky here. it looks like the fire boats got there pretty quickly, they're getting water on it. it's not recycled water, it's just water pumped right from the river. that's where they get as much water as they possibly need, great pressure in the pumps. they've got good water on it already, and i think they're going to find they're knocking it down quickly enough unless it's into that one piece of the structure that's supporting the bridge, it looks like i think you're going to have a

fortuitous result here. they've got good water on it, looks like they're knocking it down. naturally, they're concentrating on the part that's closest to the bridge at first because they want to make sure any other structure is not as critical as the one supporting the bridge. jon: obviously, a fire would take -- this thing sits down a good 30 feet below the bridge. it's a little hard to tell from these aerial pictures, but i've seen it having been over that bridge daily, the thing that's burning sits at water level, and the bridge sits a good 30 feet above it, i would say. you're still, you still have power cables and all sorts of communications equipment, i imagine, you have all sorts of things running under that bridge that could be destroyed or damaged even if necessarily the pillars that are, you know, supporting the bridge aren't hurt, there could be some other infrastructure items -- >> you're right. you're right, and i'm sure the

metro north people are on their way just hoping to get a look at it as quickly as possible so they can hope to get the trains back this afternoon. it'll be out of service, no question, for a while. now you're getting a good shot. looks like just the pier. that's heavy-duty wood, so once it gets going, it's hard to put out. they've got a great angle at it, they're upwind, they're blowing it down. it looks like they're concentrating underneath the train tracks first, of course, to make sure they minimize that damage, and it looks live they've got a good shot. jon: if you're not in new york city, this may all look very strange and like something that isn't going to affect you very much, and maybe it won't. but right now in new york city you've got the u.n. convening, you've got extremely heavy traffic because of all the dignitaries in town, dignitaries who include if you want to call him this mahmoud ahmadinejad, the iranian president who is supposed to speak in front of

the u.n. general assembly. and anytime the u.n. is meeting in manhattan, traffic is an absolute nightmare. you have motorcades of police vehicles taking these dignitaries from their hotels to the u.n., back again, to meetings. it is gridlock in manhattan, and now to potentially -- and i want to stress the potentially because we don't yet know how long this outage is going to last, but we do know that metro north trains which carry tens of thousands of commuters from westchester county in connecticut into manhattan each and every day, in and out of manhattan, those trains are not running right now at least until they get this fire out and at least until they get a look at that bridge. they are not going to be running any trains. so traffic today on this particular day coming out of new york city for commuters like me who normally take the train home at the end of the day, that is going to be a mess. again, we're seeing white smoke, commissioner. as harris has pointed out, that

means that they've got cannen a pretty good -- gotten a pretty good handle on the fire, doesn't it? >> yes. they've got a lot of water on it, they've got it pretty much knocked down beneath the bridge. but as you said, you don't know how much heat got to the structure underneath the bridge that might have had some cables there, and you're hoping they can make sense of it if there is anything there. the other thing we could have hoped for was ahmadinejad was on the bridge. [laughter] jon: a little political commentary from the former fire commissioner. you know, i have looked at that thing, again, just staring out the window when i take my train home, it appears to be a structure made of railroad ties soaked in the thing that keeps wood in the ground from rotting. that is hard to put out, as you point out. >> yeah, it really is. but it makes for a real strong bridge or support underneath the

piers because it lasts forever. it does take longer to put out, but it's harder to penetrate into the interior of the wood also. so a lot of that might be the structure on top of those things that are settling down, you know? you just don't -- you can't tell until they really get it out, and it looks like they're doing a pretty good job. jon: commissioner, i know harris faulkner has a question for you. >> reporter: yeah. actually, a couple of things. you just saw that one thing, that's from our camera, so that's how far you can see the smoke. they can see this all the way from new jersey, that's on the other side not far from where captain sully landed on the hudson river. that's quite a distance away. are they -- is wind a part of what they're dealing with down on that water? because it's clipping at a pretty good pace down there. >> yeah, and it is. like i said, they're in good position because they're able to push it away from them, so they can see what they're doing. you can see the angle, and you can probably see from where you are. they're right under the bridge, they've got a great angle at it.

they're really concentrating on getting the fire out that's most damaging to the train tracks, get that out first. the rest of the pier, it is what it is. they'll get it as much as they can, as best they can. but it's a beautiful, clear day. they're pushing all that soke in towards the city, but they've got a real good angle at it. jon: i think that a lot of that wind is actually coming from, you know, the wind that's rushing to fill in the low pressure system from hurricane igor if i'm not mistaken. >> reporter: yeah. absolutely. i know we've been hearing meteorologist janice dean say that too. jon, just to wrap up my end of this just in terms of how many people this will affect, rush hour is, you know, still several hours away, but with things backed up we've seen a growing suspension of service along train lines. first it was the harlem line, now it is all metro north service in and out of manhattan through grand central. that's a heck of a lot of people. even if they got this out in the next five minutes, there are going to be reverberations for

many hours to come because there are so many people in manhattan already. jon: harris, i think i'm going to have to take the day off tomorrow because i'm not going to be able to get home tonight. >> reporter: ah, come on over to my house. by the way, no injuries. jon: that is the good news. we do not mean to make light of this. this is going to be a commuting nightmare for tens of thousands of people. we'll keep you updated. jenna: well, let's follow that up with another fox news alert. we can now confirm the arrest of that north carolina murder suspect we've been telling you about. michael harvey is suspected of killing 23-year-old valerie hamilton, she's the daughter of a local police chief in north carolina. he's a convicted sex offender, and police saying they picked up harvey -- we don't know where exactly, but apparently he has family in the area. that's a full 12-hour drive from the place in north carolina where this murder did take place. the police there in niagara say they will begin the extradition process to get him back to north

carolina. valerie was reported missing last week. police found her body on friday in a storage unit building, just a terrible, sad story. her father, again, works for local law enforcement. he hit the airwaves on the morning shows this morning pleading for help, and, you know it's a good sign that he actually got something, got some help here. apparently, the suspect now under arrest. we're going to comet to follow this -- continue to follow this story and be right back with more breaking news. @k@k@k@k@kú

jon: a fox news alert and taking you back to the upper end of the island of manhattan where a wooden tier that sits -- pier that sits underneath a very important railroad trussle has been on fire throughout the morning. let's talk about what's going o8 with marjorie anders, a public information officer for the metro north railroad. how much damage has been done to that bridge, do we know? >> it's way too early to tell. it's not clear whether the bridge itself has been affected by the fire. what is clear is that a number, a bunch of woodpilings which are intended to protect the bridge from collision with boats, are fully engulfed. the bridge itself is steel, don't know if the steel has been affected. if it has, we're in big trouble. we're hoping that the fire department can get it out asap and we can do an inspection. at the moment, however, as of 11:45 a.m. all train traffic on

metro north on the hudson, harlem and new haven line in or out of manhattan has been suspended. now, no trains are leaving grand central, so there's nobody stranded anywhere. southbound trains are being held at the nearest station. we don't know how long this will last. people should definitely prepare to be patient. it seems likely that subway -- people can get on the subway to get in and out of manhattan. subway service not affected, and we have a number of places where subways intersect with metro north trains. jon: right. >> so i'm sure that our operations service people will say, for example, our new station. the 233rd street and get on

station. that's very premature, but will happen until we have time to assess the condition of the bridge. jon: right. i know you're going to have to that steel that steel can melt, and you don't want to send a train rolling over that bridge until you know it's absolutely safe. how many commuters, i mean, all of your metro north operations have to roll over that bridge, right? 135,000 manhattan every so that's a lot of people. 270,000 trips if you double those folks going home every night. >> that's correct. so we are, obviously, concerned, and we're going to do everything get those people home. don't know what shape that will take this afternoon. jon: there was some local

reporting that this may have been a transporter explosion. are you able to confirm or comment on that? >> the new york city office of emergency management has informed us that it was a transformer fire. i don't know if that's true, but i believe them. [laughter] jon: yeah. would that be a transformer for the railroad feeding power to the railroad itself? these are electric trains, generally, for most people who don't know. these are electric trains that ride along the hudson river and, you know, the other lines split on, go up into connecticut, white plains, cities like that. >> yes. the tracks over the bridge are electrified, they do have third rails. whether this particular transformer was one that was used to feed our third rail or whether it was some other power source in the city, i do not know at this time. jon: well, apparently, i mean, we can just see by these live pictures coming into us courtesy of our fox 5 chopper here in new york city, you can see that they have the fire pretty well knocked down. but would you want to take a

step out onto that structure? probably not. it is going to take some time to get this fire absolutely under control, and then i'm sure the teams of engineers are going to have to take a very good, hard look at that bridge. marjorie, i mentioned earlier there are not only power cables, but probably train communication cables and that kind of thing that have to be strung along the bridge, and those things could have melted, right? >> well, i don't want to speculate on that. yes, we do have all kinds of things that need to be checked out. don't know the problems yet, and we have a lot of able-bodied people who will be working very, very hard to get this thing straightened out, checked out and repaired if needed, but i don't want to speculate. jon: word to the wise, if those 135,000 people who ride any metro north train are planning to get home this evening in points north of man manhattan, y should look for alternatives to get them across the hudson

river, basically, probably by subway, right? all right. sounds like we lost our connection to marjorie, but e want to thank her for her information. she's a spokesperson for metro north railroad. jenna: some construction workers are making a hard hat pledge vowing not to work on the mosque near ground zero. this is a grassroots effort that's gaining momentum on the web, and eric shawn is live in our newsroom to tell us more about it. >> reporter: if the so-called ground zero mosque gets off the ground, it's going to need hard hats to build it, but now there's a charge to construction workers to not lift a hammer. the web site is called 9/11 hard hat pledge.com, and they're signing up supporters in the construction trades who say they will boycott building the project. they say the islamic center supporters do have the legal right to build it, they believe it is inappropriate so close clo to ground zero. they call it an american battlefield. the effort is the brain child of construction worker andy sullivan.

>> i started the 9/11 hard hat pledge, and that's a total grassroots effort, has nothing to do with union leadership. the unions and all its leadership are staying away from this, okay? this is a very controversial issue right now. but the guys that i have signing up, it's starting to happen trout the nation. throughout the nation. >> reporter: the unions haven't commented on that, the president of the building trade association told us they've taken no formal position on this controversy. as for the project's developer and the supporters, the cordova initiative, they have not responded to a reaction to the plan. and construction workers we talked to were mixed about it. some said they would not help build it, others said they would if their employers had the contract to do that. one hard hat we met was perhaps the most poignant. his name is jim, he told me he was part of the immediate 9/11 cleanup, and as a result he came down with cancer of the vocal cords. >> i have cancer from 9/11. >> reporter: you worked on the

world trade center? >> i was there before the sun came up. pulled out bodies, i was there for a while, and now i've got cancer. no, i don't want to work there. >> reporter: meanwhile, others from across the country took part in a summit here in new york this weekend. their aim? to support the project, and they have come out with a statement saying americans and people in this country should have the right to build a house of worship wherever they want. they also have called for a national week of dialogue on this, that just coming out moments ago. jenna? jenna: eric shawn, thank you so much. jon: let's talk politics now. republicans are gearing up for the midterm elections. they have high hopes of regaining control of the house of representatives. the house gop is getting ready to roll out a new agenda, and conservatives are pushing to include some hot button social issues. shannon bream is live in washington with more on that. what do we know about what the

gop is planning here, shannon? >> reporter: well, jon, for months democrats have said the gop doesn't have an agenda, all they do is attack us, that's their agenda. well, we understand that will change on thursday. there's going to be an a event at a lumberyard in su suburban virginia. we understand john boehner is going to roll out several things aimed as job creation, cutting government spending, repealing or fighting back against the health care bill, that's very popular, and this is going to be different than 1994's contract with america. this is not going to have a big signing ceremony, and it is actually expected to have double the items that that 1994 contract had, jon. jon: are social conservatives going to go along with this? >> reporter: well, we'll see. you know, this weekend they had the big values voters summit here in washington, and they took a poll within that group, very conservative group, about what they wanted to see. this is how they listed their priorities. number one, still at the top of their list is the issue of

abortion followed by government spending, repealing the health care bill, protecting religious liberty and then national security. so you can see there is some overlap with what we expect on thursday. at least one gop congressman has said publicly he has been reassured that language on social issues will be included in this agenda unveiled later this week. all right, so we wanted to check in with the tea 35er9. they are fresh off some big wins, they're a big player in trying to influence what the gop is doing as well. the tea party actually came up with its own contract from america, that came out last year, so i asked one activist about what she expects to see come from the gop this week and how she feels about trying to miss social issues in with these other pressing concerns. here's dana lash. >> right now we have to focus on the things that are really driving this country into a death spiral, and that is the lack of accountability economically. it's the health control stuff, it's foreign policy, it's protecting our borders, all of

that. we have to give attention to that first before we can go on down the line and look at other issues. >> reporter: all right. so tea party waiting to get a look at it, we understand members will get a formal look on wednesday night, and the democrats say they're anxious to look at it too so they can figure out how to campaign against it. jon: all right, shannon bream in washington, thanks. jenna: want to take you back to this developing story. this is the fire that was burning underneath the 138th street bridge out in harlem. and this is a very important bridge for the city of new york, one of the largest american cities and one of the cities with the most complex public transportation systems. so what we know about this fire so far is we know that there's no injuries, but there could be some headaches for commuters to come. hundreds of thousands of people travel on trains that come into the city and come out of the city across these tracks. and we were just told by one of

the public information officers that oversees some of this public transportation that the extent of the damage to this bridge is not yet known yet, and that's going to be tough. we're only a couple hours away from the commute here in new york city. we also have that big u.n. meetings that are bringing hundreds of thousands more to the city as well and traffic disruptions itself, so this is definitely a developing story in the city. we should tell you although this video you're looking at, you can still see the fire. as we were just looking at live pictures moments ago, the fire looks to be controlled and almost completely out. again, a lot more news to come on this and the damage to this bridge yet unknown. well, a baseball bat breaks, and a piece of shattered wood -- there it is -- strikes a player sending him to the hospital. turns out it was a maple bat, and this is important to note. there's a push to have maple bats banned for this very reason or before something even worse happens. >> coming in from third on a hit, and the bat just, boom,

right into his chest, right here. the pointy end of it too. he stopped for a few seconds and kept trotting in, but he was stunned. mom, did you borrow my green shirt?

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megyn: hi e everyone, i'm megyn kelly. sarah palin says the national media is seeking o'donnell's destruction. could she be right? also harry reid tees up what critics are calling an amnesty bill just in time for his re-election bill, and today we're learning he might have the votes. and paris hilton admits to having cocaine on her person and lying to police, and she gets no jail time? celebrity justice, anyone? plus, now they're asking first graders if they might be gay. 6-year-olds? seriously? see you top of the hour. jon: the united nations millennium goals summit kicking off this morning leading up to the general assembly meetings later this week. live pictures inside the general

assembly where leaders are gathered. but iran's president, mahmoud ahmadinejad, he's stealing the spotlight with comments he made earlier. david lee miller live for us, what did he have to say, david? >> reporter: the future, jon, belongs to iran. that is what ahmadinejad said today in an interview. at this hour he is inside the building behind me. presumably, now, he's doing some hallway diplomacy meeting with some of the other 140 world leaders who are here this week. but as you pointed out, it is mahmoud ahmadinejad who is stealing the spotlight. this is his seventh trip to the united states, and earlier in an interview with the associated press, he said that the united states must now recognize that iran is, what he termed and i'm quoting him now, a big power. also coming up iran's nuclear program. iran says it is peaceful, but there are great suspicions here

and around the world that, in fact, iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb. he says that is not the case. quoting him again, we are brave enough to say we want it. he also said that iran wants to destroy the world's arsenal of nuclear weapons, and as for those u.n. sanctions, so far we're on round number four. he dismissed them saying that another round of sanctions would be, in if his words, jon, futile. jon? jon: he's getting all the attention, ahmadinejad is this week, but who else is there? >> reporter: no surprise he is getting all the attention, but when it comes to u.s. bashing, he does have some company. earlier today the bolivian president, e soy morales, spoke, and he made a point of saying the wealthier countries are stealing from the poorer countries. the president of zimbabwe is going to speak, hugo chavez, the president of venezuela, he's expected to speaknki

jenna: why are maple bats popular and do they get better results than the other bats. >> that is debatable. the players seem some like them. they got popular after bret baier -- bear rebonds broke records with them. some prefer maple, they are quite popular. jenna: we'll see what happens. hopefully as you mentioned, this player feels better and recovers nicely. i can see why they kind of like it. ken, thank you very much for joining us.

jon: right now the train line that serves grand central station, grand central terminal in new york, it is completely shut down. the metro north railroad into and out of grand central terminal completely shut down because of this. this is video from an hour or so ago, a fire underneath, as they go into and out of the city of new york, that fire has forced the shut down of all those trains, 135,000 commuters roll into the city each morning over that bridge, and for now that bridge is shut down. nobody knows how long it will be shut down. they'll have to get engineers on board and take a look at how much damage the fire has done. for now in and out of grand central is shut down. all trains are being held at the stations. you can figure that commuting tonight out of city of man hat and to white plains, westchester county is going to be a mess.

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jenna: want to bring you a few headlines coming from the president who is holding a town hall meeting in d.c. to talk about the economy, a few things that he had to say. he said that extending the bush tax cuts for the rich is an irresponsible thing for us to do. he also went onto say the first thing you do when you're in a hole is not dig deeper. he was referring to the cost associated with extending some of the tax cuts to those americans making more than $250,000. he also went onto say that the recession is a very real thing, real for millions of americans, and this comes in light of a declaration by the national bureau of check research that calls the recessions over or beginning, they made the statement this morning that the recession ended in june of 2009.

the president saying for many americans it still remains, a very real situation to be dealt with on a daily basis. jon: a raging wildfire in utah forcing hundreds from their homes. crews are battling the flames tearing through hundreds of acres 30 miles outside salt lake city. this fire was sparked at a fire range during a training session for the national tkpwarld. fire officials say more than 1,600 homes have been evacuated. at least a hundred more are threatened. four houses have already burned to the ground. joining us on the phone lieutenant don hudson with the police department in greater salt lake. what is the greatest challenge now. >> the greatest challenge is to get the fire under control before the winds kick up again. that's really been the issue here. this is a fire that could have been easily controlled by the national guard troop when the fire started on the firing range

but because we had 50-mile per hour gusts yesterday it really got out of control in a hurry. we have a relatively calm today today and we're hoping to get a handle on the fire before the chance that the winds pick up again. jon: i know you have a lot of homes, people and horses in that area. we hope you can get it under control. lieutenant don hudson, thank you. >> you're welcome. jenna: want to take you back to quick. pictures. metro north towards that the 138 bridge. that brings those trains in and out of manhattan, looks like a stopped train and your screen right there and obviously a big commuting mess we are following very closely here in the city of new york. we'll be right back with more. ♪

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zero grams trans fat, and a healthy level of sodium. because heart healthy is good for your life... and the people in it. healthy request from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. jenna: how are you going to get home tonight jon scott. jon: i'm going to walk 23 miles, i'm going to leave now. jenna: i hope i see you tomorrow. jon: i'll be back. jenna: